Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

As you may know 2 years ago we did a Disney cruise with Rachel's CCAI travel group. It was so much fun that we decided to go again this year. Only this time all the Spencer Woolley's came. And this is our story.

We arrived in Orlando on a rainy Thursday afternoon, Daniel, Rachel, Leah, Marcia and me. We picked up our car, found our hotel, and after a quick shop stop to pick up some water we headed to the Magic Kingdom.
Leah and I sported fake eyelashes for our costume. Disney goes all out for the Halloween party, and first on our agenda was to ride Splash Mountain. Rachel did not want to ride at first and so Daniel, Leah and I went. When we got off we convinced Rachel that it would be fun, after many tears (on Rachel's part) and a lot of pleading (on our part) we all rode Splash Mountain together. Once she had gone Rachel decided that Splash Mountain is her favorite ride. We also got our faces painted. We are still soaking wet from Splash Mountain, you don’t dry too quickly in the humidity. Disney does an incredible fireworks show with the Villains as well as a very fun parade. We rode some rides, watched the fireworks and wrapped up the night around midnight.

SeaWorld

After breakfast at the hotel on Friday morning we headed out to Sea World where we met Brent, June and Maggie who had driven in from their home in Georgia. It was HOT on Friday, but we endured the heat and humidity to see the shows. First, we saw the dolphin show, it’s a sort of strange attempt at Dolphins on Broadway—so we sweated with 500 hundred of our closest friends. I am always amazed at the animals.

Leah wanted to pet the dolphins so she, Daniel and I headed over to feed the dolphins. Its an incredible experience, they actually have very smooth skin as opposed to the slimy stingrays which were next on our list. Just to make sure we got in our water ride we went on the Journey to Atlantis and got soaked. We headed over to Shamu stadium for the Shamu show. The stadium was packed, thankfully they have some fans to help cool you a little.
The walrus was putting on a show of his own doing laps in his pool across from the stadium. (Please standby for this)

After Sea World we went to pick up JD and Michael at the Orlando airport and then headed down to Port Canaveral.

On the way Rachel discovered that she had a very loose tooth. Everyone offered to pull it out for her, but she opted to wait until we reached the Hotel.

Embarkation

SATURDAY!!! We got to board the ship. This started our seven day journey through the Western Caribbean on the Disney ship called "Magic."
We had a little time to wait before the shuttle took us to the port, but Jessi and Arianna helped us to pass the time. Getting on the ship is always a process. But Michael and Kim (the Disney employee) took care of getting us checked in and on board. While we were waiting Rachel and JD spent some time dancing and playing hand games.
The lunch buffet was a feast for the eyes.

One of my favorite parts of the first day is when we all don our lovely life jackets for the emergency safety drill.
We took a tour of the ship and went to the sail away party on deck 10. Dinner on Saturday was at Lumiere’s we had a little first night seating drama, but got it sorted out and settled in for a delicious dinner. Michael branched out and tried the escargot.

The first night was the welcome show. The shows are incredible, the cast does a great job.

Key West

Leah got her hair cut, here she is with the Cool Hair Stylist from New Zealand. We spent some time poolside and then went to Key West.

Mom wanted to see Hemingway’s house and so we grabbed our map and headed into the heat of the day. And we walked and walked and walked until we were all pretty sweaty and really grumpy, but eventually we found it. After a quick picture we went in search of the beach. We did not find the beach per se but we found the ocean.

JD and Michael stepped over the wall onto the beach rocks. Rachel wanted to join them and Michael lifted her over the wall. Then Rachel wanted a closer look and JD swung her out and her sunglasses flew off her shirt and into the water. It was hilarious. Rachel was, of course, hysterical and proclaimed “JD is always pushing my buttons.”

That night for dinner we were in Animator’s palate. We went to "Meet the Robinsons" after dinner. On the way to the theater JD hit his very tall head on a ceiling and scratched it.

Monday At Sea

Mom, Leah, Rachel and friends went to Mickey's Island Jam for breakfast (a new take on a character breakfast). JD, Michael, and I went to a Yoga class. It was pretty cool to do Yoga on a ship!!







We spent the day lying by the pool and eating. In the afternoon we saw the third Pirates movie. It was nice to just take it easy. Rachel went down the Mickey slide and the boys camped out. Room service was their favorite. Leah, Mom and I attended a class on plate and cake decorating. It was very interesting. We also discovered the padded chairs on deck 4.








That night in the rocky sea we had dinner at Parrot Cay. We all joked about how we felt like we were rocking with the ocean. It makes it a challenge to eat.

Our evening attire was formal. We took family pictures and went to the "Golden Mickeys" show after dinner. Jessi sat with us and I shared an altoid with her. Thus begand the nightly ritual of, "Can I have a mint?"

The boys watched a football game on the big screen tv.

Grand Cayman




Grand Cayman is still recovering from a hurricane, but that did not stop us from walking around and seeing the sights. Including men on the beach cleaning fish.

We took our picture with a pirate and in front of Macdonald’s. For lunch we ate at a local place right on the water.







Some other people went on an official tour of Grand Cayman. We barrowed this picture.
Who knew?




Rachel got her hair braided on the ship. The woman who did was very skilled and fast it took only 20 min to get it done.





That night we went to the show "Twice Charmed An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story." It was very cool, they had great special effects.

Cozumel, Mexico

















Our excursion was the Beach Break. The weather was windy, the sea was choppy, the sand was gravely and still we had a great time.

Following the excursion we went shopping. That is where we made this new friend.

After a day of fun we were actually approaching hungry when it was time for dinner, a first in a while for all of us. Disney has a big celebration with pirates. We got to dress up as pirates for dinner. We ate pirate themed food. There was a Pirates in the Caribbean Deck Party in the evening and then when it got dark we watched fireworks shoot off the ship!


The characters changed outfits to look like pirates also.
Daniel at the buffet after the Pirates in the Caribbean Deck Party.